Transcripts For CNNW Starting Point 20130227

Im zoraida sambolin. Starting point with Soledad Obrien starts now. Good morning, welcome, everybody. Starting point this morning, the popes final audience. Leader of the Catholic Church addresses 50,000 followers in st. Peters square, a day before he officially resigns. This historic moment and what it means for the Catholic Church. Christiane amanpour joins us live from rome. And thousands of people waking up to a snowy mess and canceled flights and bracing for more ice and snow. Two days away from 85 billion in forced spending cuts and both sides just playing the blame game is there still time to stop pointing fingers and find a solution . From basketball bad boy to american diplomat. What on earth is Dennis Rodman yes, Dennis Rodman, what is he doing in north korea . And the popes resignation not without controversy. What kind of financial legacy will the pope leave . This morning, talking to new york congressman steve israel. Illinois congressman aaron schock is our guest. John kiriakou, a former fbi agent going to prison. And mark omara, George Zimmermans defense attorney. Its february 27th. Starting point begins right now. Welcome, everybody. Pope benedict and his final public farewell. 1. 2 billion catholics, making his last public appearance in st. Peters square, telling tens of thousands of followers his decision to step down comes with a deep peace of mind. Translator i have taken this step in full awareness of the gravity, seriousness and a profound serenity in my soul. Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour joins us live from rome this morning. Reporter good morning, soledad. Pilgrims streaming out of st. Peters square behind me, where they gathered several hours ago for the final public audience by Pope Benedict xvi. He did something rather unprecedented for these what are weekly audiences. He toured around the square in his pope mobile and tens of thousands of people inside the square got a firsthand look at him. Lots of waving, lots of cheering, and he delivered his blessing and talked about what it maend to take the step, you just heard him say he understood the enormity of this, the gravity of it, and the novelty of it, this is indeed unprecedented. More than 600 years since a pope stepped down and it wasnt voluntary. More than 700 years since a pope stepped down voluntarily. He did refer to his health. This is what he said regarding why he took this decision. Translator in the last month, i felt my strength has diminished and i have requested god with insistence in my prayer to illuminate me with his light to make me come to the right decision, not for my own good, but for the good of the church. Reporter now there is so much spotlight on this transition, and thats because the pope is such a massive global figure. The only faith leader with such a huge bloc, 1. 2 billion catholics around the world. No other faith leader has a flock that size. What the pope does, where he goes, pronouncements, statements and religious statements that they give out are viewed not just by catholics, but others around the world as well. To that end, this church rocked by scandals, you mentioned the financial mismanagement allegations thereof, and weve also talked about the scandals of the sex abuse scandals in the priesthood. Those will have to be dealt with in terms of finally being put to rest, accounted for and full transparency by the next pope and thats what were waiting to see when the next pope will be elected. When the conclave will be announced. We wont know that until monte very earliest and in the meantime this is the popes second to last day, tomorrow 5 00 p. M. Rome time, he will leave st. Peters in a helicopter to a temporary residence and at 8 00 p. M. Tomorrow night, rome time, his pap ac papacy officially ends. And Something Like 50,000 people packing st. Peters square, but many more millions watching what is happening today and tomorrow. Thank you to Christiane Amanpour. And lets get to ben wedeman, talking to folks who got to be right in the audience and hear the pope speak. Good morning, ben. Reporter many people coming here, the italian authorities laid on extra buss and trains to make it possible for the people who wanted to attend this last general audience of the pope here in st. Peters square. Very solemn occasion. I was here when Pope John Paul ii died in 2005, and it was completely different atmosphere. On this occasion, very much an opportunity for people, the faithful, to come and contemplate the legacy of Pope Benedict. Many appreciated him as a teacher, a thinker, an intellectual. Somebody who had the courage to confront many of the issues that have plagued the church over the last decade or so. The question of, for instance, pedophilia and the priesthood and other things. Very much what they heard from people is they appreciated him as someone who faced and grappled with serious issues and appreciated the fact that he had the courage to step down at this point in his life. Ben wedeman for thus morning. Thank you for the update. You can hear them breaking down from the mass said a little bit this morning. Here is what will happen from now on from here. Pope benedict xvi has amended the conclave law. They dont have to wait for 16 days after the papacy is vacant. Cardinals under the age of 80 will take part. Four ballots a day. B ballots get counted twice daily. And dark smoke, no consensus, and white Smoke Signals there is another pope and sometimes gets 2 3 majority, that means that has cleared the path for that person to become the next pope. Well watch what happens the rest of the day and tomorrow as people watch the final days of this pope. Pope benedict xvi as he gets ready to officially resign. Other big story were following, severe weather, causing severe headaches in the texas panhandle to the great lakes. Millions affected by this fierce winter storm. Chicago Ohare International airport forced to cancel hundreds of flights on tuesday, they got more than 4 inches in chicago, and got this story covered for you this morning. Ted rowlands live in chicago. Jennifer delgado tracking the storm closely from the cnn Weather Center in atlanta. Ted, how does it look . Well, the snow turned to freezing rain in the last few minutes here, which is Perfect Timing for the morning commute and should be a complete nightmare for people coming in and out of the city this morning, a difficult week. This is the second storm this hit places like kansas city and chicago. You mentioned flights. More than 700 flights were canceled between ohare and midway. Youve got stranded passengers, but they will try to work into the system today, it is going to be a very, very busy day at ohare and on the roads here as this storm continues to pelt the midwest. Soledad. What a big, hot mess for people there. Ohare already a challenge at times. Thank you for that. Right to Jennifer Delgado at the cnn Weather Center. We talked about you tracking the storm a lot the last couple of weeks. Talk about this one. Big snow totals. Kansas city, picked up nearly 10 inches of snowfall. Since then, things have quieted down, tracking snow on the radar. You can see for areas for wisconsin over toward parts of kansas. Kansas city, picking up light snow. Overall today, anywhere you are seeing up to the north and midwest, potentially 1 to 2 more inches of snowfall. The northeast is different. We have snow mixing in for areas. You can see for new york and rain for regions like new york city as well as into boston. Thats when it will be just rain. Big snow heading to parse of new england. 8 to 12 inches for parts of vermont and regions in the northeast like maine. But all of this is still causing travel delays out there look at this, soledad. Ground stop for detroit and new york. A ground stop until 7 30. And this is due to winds as well as low ceilings. Messy out there. Chicago ohare, big delays. Almost nothing worse than hearing the words ground stop. Absolutely. Reporte. Thank you, appreciate it, jennifer. Right to john berman with a look at other stories making news. This just in to cnn. A deadly shooting at a Wood Products factory in switzerland. Several People Killed and others wounded. Four critically wounded people air lifted to the hospital. The factory employees 410 people and they had to cut production recently due to a reduction in the wood harvest. When we get more information, including a clearer casualty count, we will bring them to you. In california, a state already reeling from the daes deaths of two Police Officers at the hands of Christopher Dorner earlier this month, two officers in the Santa Cruz Police department killed yesterday in the line of duty while responding to a report of possible domestic violence. The report has never lost an officer on patrol until now. The suspect killed in a shootout with police. And chuck hagel will show up for his first day of work in the pentagon. He was confirmed last night by a 5841 vote. And the president s choice for treasury secretary could be confirmed today, jack lew. He sailed through the Senate Finance committee yesterday. Stunning decision from natureo. A really bad clerical error. A 7 decline in violence in afghanistan last year, turns out was inaccurate. Taliban attacks held steady. And militants killed 17 people overnight, including ten afghan Police Officers while they slept this in the gazni province in afghanistan. Dennis rodman is in north korea, of all places. With three members of the famed Harlem Globetrotters to put on a show for fans while she film a tv documentary. Rodman, known as the worm, tweeting from inside north korea and saying maybe ill run into the gangnam style dude while im here. Psy, he is south korean, not north korean. A little bit of a problem. A big difference. I havent heard the nickname the worm since about 1999. Rodman, bad as i want to be. Yet there he is tweeting from north korea. Still ahead two days until 85 billion in forced budget cuts go into effect. Can congress get past the finger pointing, or is it too late for compromise . Well speak with steve israel. And Business News to discuss too. Scandal surrounding the vatican as the pope prepares to step down. From accusations of corruption and monetary abuse, well look at the financial legacy awaiting the next pontiff. Youre watching starting point. If there was a pill to help protect your eye health as you age. Would you take it . Well, there is. [ male announcer ] its called ocuvite. A vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye care experts at bausch lomb. As you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. Ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. Ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. Now thats a pill worth taking. [ male announcer ] ocuvite. Help protect your eye health. Yeah we both relieve coughs, sneezing, aches, fevers. And i relieve nasal congestion. Overachiever. [ female announcer ] tylenol® cold multisymptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion. Nyquil® cold and flu doesnt. In a world where there is so much to see theres still no other place that i would rather, rather rather, rather be [ male announcer ] dip into sabra hummus and discover a little taste of the world. Enjoy sabra dips. Adventure awaits. Welcome back, everybody. Two days until massive forced spending cuts and a lot of finger pointing going on in washington, d. C. The house speaker, john boehner, had a harsh message for the senate. One that needs to be bleeped out first thing in the morning. Here is what he said. We have moved a bill in the house twice. We should not have to move a third bill before the senate gets off their [ bleep ] and begins to do something. I think is he echoing what americans everywhere are seeing. Come on, people, get off your [ bleep ] and do something. And democrats and republicans speaking out at the highest level how the forced cuts will be bad for all of us and talking about of how they are blaming the other side. Listen. It seems to me, the president is running around the country, crying wolf, saying the sky is falling. Republicans say they are kicking the can down the road. I dont think they are kicking the can down the road. I think they are nudging the potato across the table with their nose. Its almost like they were given a homework assignment 18 months and showed up last week saying we are not ready for this. Too many republicans refuse to compromise even an inch when it comes to closing special interest tax breaks. Steve israel, nice to have you back with us this morning. Good morning. Realistic to get it done in two days . I dont think so. Unfortunately, the republicans never should have sent us home last week. Only took three seconds to get to blaming the republicans. Fine how its going. You asked, can we get to a solution . You cant get a solution when you dont show up for work. Nobody wins the blame game on how we got into this mess. Im interested in who gets the credit for solving the problem. We have offered a variety of bipartisan ideas. Weve already agreed to cut spending and have cut spending 2 2 trillion. We have to cut spending. But there has to be some commonsense balance. Some compromise. We need revenues. House republicans willing to hand pink slips to 750,000 people who will lose their jobs if this happens. Hold on, hold on. Hold on. And continues to give subsidies. Hold on. Pink slips to 750,000 people, that is the calculation from the Congressional Budget Office and that comes from as you pointed out, both sides bringing themselves to this edge, this line. You both get equal blame. Do you worry that voters are kind of sick of both sides of the aisle in this . How many times have we had the conversation about the deadline, falling off the cliff. On one side, house democrats, have already compromised. 2 trillion in spending cuts. We said openly we have a huge debt problem, we want to reduce our debt. Well support additional spending cuts and only one side, john boehner, has said no, we will not compromise, we will not negotiate, you can go home, we are willing to allow this thing called sequestration to happen, even if the cost of 750,000 jobs. And that 750,000 jobs over the year, right . Lets not act as if its going to happen but if you are one of those jobs, you dont care whether its tomorrow or imminent. It doesnt have to be this way. Rather than we do care if its tomorrow. Because its over the year. I get what you are saying, its not going to happen the day we go into sequestration. But it doesnt have to happen at all. All we ahave to do is compromis. Why are we always getting up to the cliff . Really . Why is the entire structure of in this particular case, the fiscal cliff, various reiterations. Weve done this three or four times over the last year on this show alone. Only around for a yore and a month. A lot of cliffs were coming to. This is now the strategy in politics, right . You bring everybody up to the cliff and do some lastminute i do countdowns of them all the time. Why is that the way we negotiate today . You just said this. This has happened over the past year and a half since your show has been on the air. What else happened . When Tea Party Congress took over the house. There was a time when republicans would negotiate, wed work out differences and come to compromise. A time when john boehner said it would be irsponsible for us to go over a debt cliff. He said that. What happened in the interim . A group of extremists that believe compromise is a dirty word. You have a congress that is willing to cut Defense Budget by 5 500 billion in order to cut spending with and protect tax to protect millionaires from getting tax increases. First i thought you were saying my show was to blame for going to the cliff. I got you. And this deal would allow the white house to pick the cousin stead of across the board cuts. The white house could pick which cuts. Why is that a bad idea . Come on, passing the blame and passing the buck. Passing the burden of leadership. Some could put it that way. Why are these guys getting paid . Very few jobs allowed to collect a salary, blame everybody else and refuse to make the hard decisions. Thats a pretty good gig john boehner has. Well come in, vote, go on recess, go on vacation, and when tough decisions have to be made, well blame the senate for not act and then blame the president for acting. A nice gig. Congressman steve israel, chair of the Congressional Campaign committee. Nice to have you with us. Thank you. Still ahead next hour, republican reaction on this same issue from aaron shock. Up next, a provocative oped, raising questions of what you were just talking about, the recent scandal surrounding the Catholic Church. The big one. Could the vow of sell bacelibac blame . Ministering her medicatio, and just making her comfortable. One night britta told me about a tradition in denmark, when a person dies, she said, someone must open the window so the soul can depart. I smiled and squeezed her hand. Not tonight, britta. Not tonight. [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson johnson. Welcome back to starting point. Im Christine Romans minding your business. Allegations of mismanagement, money laundering. All things that Pope Benedict has dealt with. He over sees the holy sea. He hired a swiss Financial Crime fighter to raise standards, but the efforts to take the vaticans money out of the shadows felt short. Jeffrey robinson spoke with ali velshi. We know the vatican bank has assets roughly about 7 7. 5 billion. Thats not the point. Not how much money it holds. What does it do with the money . Not accountable to anybody. The idea of having the most Secretive Bank in the world means you can do the most secretive things in the world. The most Secretive Bank in the world. We know that they have 3 308 million in revenue. Museum sees, sale of mementos, the churches, the land they sit on. The Catholic Church is the worlds third biggest land owner. 177 million acres around the world. Thats where the clarity ends. Donations from parishioners, the exact amount, private. Collections taken up that dont go into the budget like the popes charities and the price of the van case artwork, the sistine chapel, gold, and all of the precious metals. Earlier this year, you couldnt use an atm at the vatican. They said are you not complying with International Banking rules and transparency. Not the case anymore, yes, absolutely just recently you have been able to use those things, but the vatican. Not because they changed the rules and opened the up the bank. They made a new deal with another vendor to process transactions. It shows youow how the lack of transparency i would say within the finances of the church. Big, sprawling and old organization. Lets talk about our panel. Monsignor Rick Hilgartner, director of define worship at the National Conference of catholic bishops. Chris frates of the National Journal and c connie mack join us as well. A newcomb commentary says that the sex abuse scandal could be stopped by dropping the vow of celibacy. Lets give a moments thought to loneliness and longing and the pledge of sell boise is often a cruel and corrosive thing that runs counter to human nature and asks too much. Good thing i have a monsignor here on the panel what do you think about his column this morning . Thats a great start. Welcome. Thank you. Nice to have you, sir. Welcome to the panel. Celibacy always perceived as a sacrifice. Its a way to be more completely available to the one thing that were committed to, and thats serving the church. And in some ways, its no different than a married man or woman giving themselves totally to another person, and limiting their sexual selfs to that one person. Do you buy his argument about isolation . When he gave his example, cardinal obrayen, we talked about how isolating it was. Using the example of female companionship, at some point people get lonely. You know, do you think hes got a point in the loneliness . For some. I certainly try to have a healthy kind of lifestyle that allows me to have healthy friendships and companionship with other priests and with people. When i was in a parish. I dont work in one now. But in a parish, had healthy, strong relationships with families and parishioners and there are many ways to keep that as a healthy lifestyle. Many ways and weve seen through the sex abuse scandal the ways in which that can reduce itself to something far less than healthy and to the point its criminal. And it makes the priest hood less attractive, always a struggle, to get american priests to come into the priesthood. Contributes to the shortage. How men who pursue ordination fare. And back to the sex scandal in a way. He uses the way factored into in some way to the sex scandal. Do you think thats true . The statistics we see in the church in the United States show that the percentages arent really pointing to that. We look at about 1 of the priests of the United States who were ever affected by that or ever kind of gave over to those kinds of inclinations and those are no different than in larger population, in married people, teachers and any other profession thats there. So we dont think that its a question of sell boise being the contributing factor. I am so glad to have you on the panel. This book jesus is, we have the author. I think this is a great book. Nice to have you, sir. Still ahead, a former cia officer headed to prison tomorrow for a 2 1 2 year sentence after he leaked information that led to the outcry over water bodying. An exclusive interview coming up. A a disturbing new Study Suggests that an increase in Breast Cancer in young women exists. Well talk about why in a moment. Connecting to the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. Its going to be amazing. And exciting. And maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. Were going to wake the world up. And watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. Cisco. Tomorrow starts here. A regular guy with an irregular heartbeat. The usual, bob . Not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib Atrial Fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left. I dont think so. [ male announcer ] for years, bob took warfarin, and made a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. But not anymore. Bobs doctor recommended a different option onceaday xarelto®. Xarelto® is the first and only onceaday prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem, that doesnt require routine blood monitoring. Like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce the risk of an afibrelated stroke. There is limited data on how these drugs compare when warfarin is well managed. No routine blood monitoring means bob can spend his extra time however he likes. 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Ready to change your routine . Ask your doctor about onceaday xarelto®. For more information including cost support options, call 1888xarelto or visit goxarelto. Com. Welcome back, everybody. Youre watching starting point. In a few minutes, an exclusive interview with john kiriakou, a form cia officer who begins a 2 1 2 year prison sentence, one of the first to confirm that prisoners were being water boarded. First the headlines with john berman. Sources stress the u. S. Is not considering providing weapons to syrian rebels, but will provide nonmilitary supplies. John kerry is discussing changes with european allies this week. In north carolina, the search on for a gunman at Coastal Carolina university. The School Warning people stay indoors. The deadly incident happened last night at a residence hall, not far from myrtle beach. A scare from the university of maine Womens Basketball team. While traveling to a game in boston last night, the bus went off interstate 95 in massachusetts. Coming to a stop on the roadways shoulder. The bus driver air lifted to a hospital. He may have suffered some kind of medical emergency. Four other people injured as well. Stunning footage to show you this morning. Amateur video for the first time, capturing the moment a hot air blah loon exploded and plumtetted 1,000 feet to earth. 19 People Killed when the balloon crashed yesterday. A british tourist in the hospital. The balloon was licensed and operating legal. But sky crews and other companies were known to violate safety and security instructions by flying out of east luxor instead of the recommended west luxor. Do we know yet what happened . How going out of east luxor or west luxor would make a difference . I guess that they feel west luxor was safer. No word on what caused the explosion. A rally held in sanford, florida, in honor of Trayvon Martin, the 17yearold shot by George Zimmerman one year ago. Zimmerman claims he shot martin in selfdefense. Martins parents claim he racially profiled their son. This is no basis for a charge of racism according to his attorney. Once the fbi got involved, we know that everything they looked into, they found absolutely no racism. As a matter of fact, they found a lot of events and instances where george was what you might call an absolute nonracist. More from mark omayra. And cases of advanced Breast Cancer in young women on the rise. Well turn to elizabeth cohen. Tell us exactly what the study found. The headline is fairly alarming. It is fairly alarming. The entire story actually is fairly alarming. Take a look at these numbers. What the study found is that if you look at 1976, about 250 women that year were diagnosed with metastatic Breast Cancer, Breast Cancer that spread to another part of the body. Today, its like 850 women. This is particularly alarming. They are trying to figure out if this is true, do other stories. To read more, go to cnnhealth. Com and read a story by my colleague, caitilin haggin. What is driving the increase . They just have guesses at best. It may be women are taking more Birth Control pills, that women are having children later. They just dont know. They do know they are not telling women in their 20s and 30s to get mammograms. Too many downsides to mammograms to recommend it. For everyone since really so few women this age are getting Breast Cancer. They do encourage women of any age to know your breasts. If you notice redness, a bump, lump, anything, go to the doctor. Elizabeth cohen in atlanta, thanks to you. Right now, live pictures, chuck hagel, new defense secretary arriving for his first day, officially on the job. He will be sworn in later today. A very brief picture of secretary hagel. Who will spend much more time. On that pavement right there, walking across that pavement. Can i ask a quick thing about the Breast Cancer story. How much of the could be if there are better ways to determine if people have Breast Cancer. All those years ago, only 250 women. Relatively small women. It grows dramatically because the ways you can discover women have Breast Cancer is better. Same with autism. Is there more of it, or are we detecting it. 1976 wasnt the middle ages. But technology in that field has thats true. I was going to given the advice, know your breasts, but i will let that go. I want to hear the joke. U. S. A good one. But on tv, not going to do it. I think the food supply. So many hormones used in food and if that has an impact on people. I know people are investigating that. Interesting. A cia officerturnedwhistle blower is on his way to prison in pennsylvania. Last morning given a 2 1 2 year sentence to being among the first cia officers to confirm the use of waterboarding of detainees. He hasnt let his punishment dampen his spirits. He a farewell im going to prison party. We were right and they were wrong. Yes. And people will know it. It might take a while. But the truth will bear. John kiriakou joins us from washington, d. C. Nice to have you us with us. About to begin a 30month prison sentence. How do you feel going into that . How are you feeling about that . You know, i feeled only optimistic. Kind of hard to explain, but i have said several times over the past couple of weeks that i wear my conviction as a badge of honor, and i mean that. I believe my case was about torture, not about leaking. Im right on the torture issue, the administration is wrong, and ill carry that with me. Your conviction was about disclosing the name of a covert cia officer who was involved in the interrogations that were happening at guantanamo. Thats why you got 30 months in prison and a lot of the outrage around the waterboarding, a lot of the outrage and support comes from the fact that are you a whistleblower, but the conviction is based on revealing the name of a a covert officer. I mean, how can you say my conviction is a badge of honor, how is that possible . Well, because, like i said this case was not about leaking. If the administration was going to pursue leakers, they would pursue the likes of john brennan and countless officials in the white house, the defense department, capitol hill, the jails would be bursting with Administration Officials and with present and former cia officers. I blew the whistle on the water boarding and torture issues and they never stopped investigating me from that day until they could patch something together in early 2012. You did provide yes, i did provide the name of a former colleague to the name of a reporter seeking to locate former cia officers who would agree to sit for an interview. Unbeknownst to me, that reporter in steinstead provided the name the guantanamo defense attorneys. Its a mystery why they didnt pursue the journalist. Mr. Cole said he asked you, not if you knew someone who was retired who would sit for an interview, if knew the name of a covert officer who had a supervisor role in the rendition program. That was the gist of the problem. Part of your defense to me sounds like, listen, everybody is leaking, im the one who has gotten a raw deal out of this. Isnt the leaking illegal and wrong . I guess i dont understand your pride in that part, as much as i do understand your maybe pride in being a whistleblower. Well, i think the two are intertwined. I think the government was looking for something that they could pin on me, they found something, and they went with it, but my punishment is not for leaking. I believe my punishment is for whistle blowing. And matthew coal is absolutely wrong. He sought to he told me he was looking to interview people for a book. He sent me the cover of a book. His activities with the aclu and john adams project were surreptitio surreptitious. Best of luck as you head to your 30month sentence. I know you have a wife and five kids. 19, 18, and as little as six months. Thank you for having me. Thank you for talking to me. We have to take a short break. Ahead on starting point started out a strong sprint, but ended not so good. Nfl combine, well update you what happened there. [ male announcer ] we began with the rx. Then we turned the page, creating the rx hybrid. Now weve turned the page again with the rx f sport. This is the next chapter for the rx and the next chapter for lexus. This is the pursuit of perfection. Bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his Small Business. Take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorns Small Business earns double miles on every purchase every day. Produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less . Ahh, oh [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. Heres your wake up call. [ male announcer ] get the spark Business Card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. Choose double miles or 2 cash back on every purchase every day. Whats in your wallet . [ crows ] now wheres the Snooze Button . [ crows ] ive always kept my eye on her. But with so much health care noise, i didnt always watch out for myself. With unitedhealthcare, i get personalized information and rewards for addressing my health risks. But shes still going to give me a heart attack. Thats health in numbers. Unitedhealthcare. How we get there is not. Were americans. We work. We plan. Ameriprise advisors can help you like theyve helped millions of others. To help you retire your way, with confidence. Thats what Ameriprise Financial does. Thats what they can do with you. Lets get to work. Ameriprise financial. More within reach. Welcome back, everybody. Was it basketball or hockey . Pacers and warriors got involved in a brawl, spilled into the crowd last night. We have much more from joe carter and the bleacher report. I heard the news that the pacers were involved in a brawl, spilled into the stands. Thinking ron artest, 2004, palace. Not that bad, but a good scuffle. Roy hibbert and david lee start mixing it up and things get heated quickly. Watch stephan curry. Tries to stick up for his teammate, but the bigman tosses curry aside, not once, but twice, keep in mind, curry, a foot shorter and 95 pounds lighter when all was said and done, six technical fouls handed out. Roy hibbert ejected from the game. Pacers would go on to win. Number one indiana taken down by unranked minnesota last night. Hoosiers mandeled in the paint and under the basket. Gophers one step quicker on both ends of the court. And minnesota really needed this win to keep their thnchncaa hop alive. And gonzaga of all teams could be the new number one next week. Jimmie johnson making the rounds on talk shows. On letterman last night and, of course, during his moment, Danica Patricks name came up. This, if you were racing this, then would you have something by god. Hard time turning that one. What was it like with your buddy Danica Patrick there . She was in the race . I didnt hear about that. Really . Good luck. Thinking about that line all night. Had that one locked and loaded. Nfl combine news you dont want to make. Shamarco thomas, during his 40yard dash, his foot gets caught, down goes thomas. Our Sports Editor has so much fun with that one. Not all that bad for him, he did run the 40 again and put up the fastest time among all safeties. So they will always have a memorable video to share with his friends and family. For entertaining sports news, including minnesotas upset over indiana, go to bleacherreport. Com. Second or third round pick, could be a millionaire in a few months. All good. Little trip didnt matter. Joe, thanks. Still ahead, a book exposes the flaws and frauds of the nonprofit world. Where are the millions of dollars going . A look after this. Its post shredded wheat. Recommended by nine out of ten doctors to help reduce the risk of heart disease. Post shredded wheat is made with only one ingredient one hundred percent whole grain wheat, with no added sugar or salt. Try adding fruit for more Health Benefits and more taste in your bowl. Its the ideal way to start your heart healthy day. Try post shredded wheat. This has been medifacts for post shredded wheat. Two. Three. My Credit Card Rewards are easy to remember with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card. Earn 1 cash back everywhere, every time. [ both ] 2 back on groceries. [ all ] 3 on gas. No hoops to jump through. I earn more cash back on the things i buy the most. [ woman ] its as easy as. One two. [ all ] three [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards credit card. Apply online or at a bank of america near you. [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards credit card. If youthen this willbrids arbe a nice surprise. Meet the 5passenger ford cmax hybrid. Cmax come. Cmax go. Cmax give a ride to everyone it knows. C max has more passenger volume than competitor prius v and we havent even mentioned. Cmax also gets better mpg. Say hi to the super fuel efficient ford cmax hybrid. train horn vo wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. Norfolk southern. One line, infinite possibilities. Each year in the United States americans donate almost 300 billion to over 1 million nonprofit organizations but where is that money going and is it being used effectively . A new book takes a close look at the world of charitable organizations, its called with charity for all why charities are failing and a better way to give. This book exposes fraud and flaws in a system with little accountability and the book says the charitable sector has simply lost its way. Ken stern is the former head of nrp. Npr is a nonprofit organization. How did your experiences there factor into the book . My experiences on npr got me on the trail of trying to understand the organizational sector. When i was there one of the challenges i found it was very hard to talk to the organization about accountability, measuring itself and trying to find out whether it accomplished its mission. The organization like Many Charities are framed by their own narrative and i would go to the Board Meeting and ask people for their visions of success and theyd give me 15 visions, different definitions of success and come back the next day and there would be 15 more. You write about a lack of accountability, you say it starts from the beginning a study out of Stanford University who says the irs approved more than 99. 5 of all charitable applications. This statistic reveals the first troubling truth about our protess for deciding what is a charity and what is not. We dont have one. We permit almost anyone with a basic facility with government forms to start a charity. From the very beginning you say the system is flawed. Understated, its actually 99. 8 . Anyone with a facility with government forms can start a charity. When you look at the charitable sector a lot of charities are really forprofit organizations for all intents and purpose. The charitable Hospital System probably the best example, more profitable than forprofit hospitals, they pay their executives into the millions of dollars in compensation and the Research Shows there are no more charitable than forprofit hospitals and a lot Less Charitable than government hospitals. Youre critical of wellknown charities, the red cross and d. A. R. E. , which fights drug abuse among kids. What are the flaws you see in these wellknown groups . Theyre very different. Overall the biggest challenge is in addition to the uncharitable charity is the vast majority of charities dont do research, they dont benchmark themselves, dont make themselves accountable to the public for effective service. D. A. R. E. , 0 years of Research Showing its ineffective and some cases harmful to some of the kids who go through the program, its not only ineffective it stays in business and blocks more innovative and successful programs from getting into the schools. The question is what can we do if youre someone who wants to give to charity we should all give to charity, how do you find the right one . So the problem doesnt start with the irs, it starts with donors. Americans are the most generous donors in the world, the average family rich or poor gives about 2,700 a year but americans actually dont focus on the most effective charities. Americans dont put work into finding charities that are innovative and effective. They give to famous brands, they give to the charities of the friends, they give to charities easy to give, they give out of habit. This conversation will last longer than the average american puts into research in charities each year, takes work to find the great charities. Ken stern, the book is with charity for all it is bound to start a lot of conversations and maybe start some controversy as well. Nice to see you this morning. Thank you for having me on. Ahead this morning on starting point, a day until Pope Benedict officially steps down. Well tell you what hes told his tens of thousands of faithful at the vatican. We take you live to rome. And a deadly winter storm is on the mood and lots more suffering ahead for the millions of people in its path. Were back in a moment. With so much competition, finding the right job is never easy. But with the nations largest alumni network, including those in key hiring positions, university of phoenix can help connect you to a world of opportunity. With the bing it on challenge to show google users what theyve been missing on bing. Lets bing it on. [fight bell ding, ding] how many here are google users . What if i was to tell you that you would actually like bing way more than google when it came to the results . Prove it. Lets look up some taco places. I like the left side. Yeah . Okay, do we need to find out what the waves are like down at the beach . What side do you like better . I like the results on the right. Im gonna go with the one on the left. Oh bing won people prefer bing over google for the webs top searches. Dont believe it . Go to bingiton. Com and see what youre missing. So i used my Citi Thankyou card to pick up some accessories. A new belt. Some nylons. And what girl wouldnt need new shoes . And with all the points ive been earning, i was able to get us a flight to our favorite climbing spot even on a holiday weekend. Things are definitely looking up. [ male announcer ] with no blackout dates, you can use your Citi Thankyou points to travel whenever you want. Visit citi. Com thankyoucards to apply. T rcaptions by vitac nt. Www. Vitac. Com welcome, everybody, our starting point, Pope Benedict thanks catholics worldwide. I continue to accompany the church with my prayers and ask each of to you pray for me and for the new pope. And when Pope Benedict xvi steps down tomorrow, what does the church do next . Well take you live to rome for the latest. Two days until 82 billion in spending cuts get passed. The midwest and new england now in the path of the winter storm thats dumped record snow across the heartland. Millions bracing for snow and ice. A student plays detective when her classmates notice money keeps disappearing from their locker room. Will you not believe who she caught on camera rifling through their bags. New Consumer Reports top car picks for 2013 are out. Well look at who did and didnt make this important cut. It is wednesday, february 27th and starting point begins right now. Welcome, everybody. Our team this morning, monsignor Rick Hilgartner from the u. S. Conference of catholic bishops, chris frates, reporter at National Journal and Mary Bono Mack former congresswoman. Pope benedict xvi will make his last public appearance earlier at the vatican, kissing babies, waving to the masses telling the faithful and the church they need prayers for the challenges that lie ahead. The decision i have made after much prayers result in the faith of gods will. I will continue to accompany the church with my prayers and ask each of to you pray for me and for the new pope. Our chief international corresponde enent Christiane Amanpour is live in rome. Good morning. Reporter good morning, soledad. With every step the pope takes before his exit the world enters new uncharted waters. Nobody knows what it will be like having two living popes once the next one is elected. Benedict will be pope emeritus but there will be a crossover. He had his fine ral general audience, he went around the pope mobile and the cheers of at least 50,000 people the vatican tells us, who were requesting tickets for the general audience in the open sunny air today. He talked about the novelty of what he had done, he talked about the gravity of what he had done in resigning and he also spoke about his weakening physical and Mental Health. Translator in the last month i have felt that my strength has diminished and i have requested god with insistence in my prayer to illuminate me with his light to make hee come to the right decision not for my own good but for the good of the church. And of course this is the faith leader who has the biggest flock in the world, no other faith has such a massive congregation. 1. 2 billion catholics around the world who have one leader that is the pope. He also talked about obviously so much of what has been concerning and challenging to the church not just natural events and natural disasters around the world, war and peace, the pope is always pronouncing on and concerned about but also some of the scandals that have been buffetting the church for the last 14 years or so. He spoke about what are difficult times, he talks about at times the waters have been agitated, sometimes we were flying against the wind, but he said that he believed that god would never allow the church to sink. Those were his words and of course this puts a great challenge forth for the next pope because many are saying that as they look for future direction to lead this Catholic Church into the next decades or so, they also want to clean house and make sure theres a final accountability and transparency for all the scandals and other challenges that have rocked it. Christiane amanpour, thank you. Senior correspondent for the National Reporter in rome as well, john, talk to me about the popes final public appearance. What was the tone like . Were people joyous or was it a somber tone since it really is the last public appearance . Well, soledad, i would say it was a mix of the two. On the one hand obviously the people who were here today somewhere between 150,000 and 200,000 wanted to express expression and love and support for benedict xvi. It wasnt the High School Pep rally feel you used to get with john paul 2ii. Benedict sets a restrained and calm tone and that was reflected in the crowd as well. Before the mass he spoke about how hes going to support the church once he retires but are they figuring out the details what have his role is going to be, so unusual to have a pope who is still emeritus, who is still alive and a new pope will be elected. Yeah, thats right. This really is an utterly new situation. What benedict has said publicly in a meeting with the clergy of rome last week he intends to be hidden from the world. Youre not going to see him giving tv interviews or hitting the lecture iris cut. For the most part i doubt he will be heard or seen from again. However, inevitably soledad the question presents itself even if it is not his desire to exercise influence on the next pope, there are still going to be people who are going to Read Everything the new pope does in light of what the old pope might have done, presented with a similar situation. The vatican may try to discourage that but that wont necessarily stop people from doing it in various quarters so i think well have to see how this plays out. So walk me through then the next steps because the conclave now we know can come together earlier than planned because they made changes to the rules. When could it start, when could we have a new pope by . Do they have to make the deadline by ooeeaster sunday . Benedicts papacy ends tomorrow officially. The dean will notify the cardinals the throne is vacant. Its a mere formality because the vast majority of the cardinals are already here to say goodbye to the pope. On monday the 4th we expect the cardinal also meet in sessions, general congregations where their first order of business will be to set the date for the conclave. Benedict has given them the opportunity to move that up a little bit, were thinking around the 8th or 9th of march the conclave might begin. How long it takes is impossible to say. They have to keep going until the candidate can get twothirds of the vote. The shortest two hours, the longest one almost three years. Wow they are trying to get this done by palm sunday so a new pope can lead holy week and easter sunday. Wow, three years. Huh, all right. Thanks john allen, nice to see you, appreciate it. John berman with a look at stories making news . An update on the deadly shooting at a Wood Products factory in switzerland, three people were killed including the shooter, four critically wounded people had to be air lifted to the hospital. The factory employees some 410 people and the factory had to cut production recently due to a reduction in the wood harvest. So the clock is ticking in washington, there are now only two days to go until billions of dollars in forced spending cuts kick in, its hard to believe there will be any 11th hour compromise given the testy exchanges between the Obama Administration and congressional republicans. Lets check in with Brianna Keilar at the white house. Any movement at all . Reporter as of now, john, i will tell you the differences between the two sides here with the white house and Senate Democrats on one side and House Republicans on the other appear to be insurmountable. The divide remaining at this point on how to avert these 85 billion in acrosstheboard spending cuts. House republicans would like to see some less arbitrary spending cuts only and democrats and the white house want to see a combination of tax increases and some less arbitrary spending cuts. Its this debate weve gotten so used to and that means that these spending cuts that were put in place in 2011 with the idea theyd never go into effect are expected to go into effect as of friday night. The blame game in full effect in washington and its getting a little crass. Listen. We have moved a bill in the house twice. We should not have to move a third bill before the senate gets off their [ bleep ] and begins to do something. I think he should understand who is sitting on their pa posterior. We are doing our best here to pass something. President obama has taken his message on the road, trying to warn of the consequences of these spending cuts kicking in. Yesterday he was in eastern virginia talking about how 90,000 virginians who work for the department of defense could be on unpaid leave, how College Students would see their aid dry up, how there would be delays at airports but john, republicans are accusing the president of running around essentially saying the sky is falling, the sky is falling because theyre banking on the fact these cuts are not going to kick in for about a month so theyre banking on the fact that they wont take this political hit over this immediately but certainly the white house is trying to ensure they do, john. Thanks to you, brianna. In a few minutes a congressman aaron schock, a republican from illinois and get his take. Chicago saw the biggest snow of the season tuesday causing the cancellation of more than 1,000 flights at ohare. The storm brought up to a foot of snow to parts of eastern kansas, missouri and illinois a day after plastering southern kansas, oklahoma and texas. It is not finished yet, its headed to the northeast. Sorry about that new england. Chuck hagel right now you are looking at live pictures from the pentagon, no, that was not live pictures. Chuck hagel very elusive but now is he finally arriving at the pentagon on his first day of work as defense secretary. He will be sworn in later today, this following the bruising senate confirmation. The final 5841, four republicans voted in favor of him. He faces some immediate challenges, he has to deal with the devastating cuts to the military spending that take effect friday as part of the forced spending cuts. The police chief in santa cruz, california, called it the darkest day in the departments history, two officers were killed in the line of duty responding to a report of domestic violence. Santa cruz has never lost an officer on patrol until now. The gunman was killed a short time later in a shootout with police. A California High School student allegedly catches a teacher red handed stealing from her students. This started with kids at Lyndon High School missing money and other items from their backpacks. One student hid in a gym locker and caught the alleged thief on a cell phone camera. I didnt want to believe that she would do Something Like that because she was so nice but then she did it. We feel like we did the right thing but its still like you know kind of hard. The teacher has been placed on administrative leave while the School District and the police investigate. Wow. Exactly. As we were talking about yesterday its been a year since Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman. Zimmerman said it was selfdefense. Where does the case stand now . Well talk with zimmermans defense attorney mark o mara about his strategy in the case. Starting point is back after this short break. E did i know that one week later i wasnt smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. It reduces the urge to smoke. Some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. If you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. Tell your doctor about any history of depression or other Mental Health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. Dont take chantix if youve had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. 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You ask a ford customer. When they tell you that you need your oil changed you got to bring it in. If your tires need to be rotated, you have to get that done as well. Jackie, tell me why somebody should bring theyre car here to the ford dealership for service instead of any one of those other places out there. They are going to take care of my car because this is where it came from. Price is right no problem, they make you feel like youre a family. Get a Synthetic Blend Oil change, tire rotation and much more, 29. 95 after 10. 00 rebate. If you take care of your car your car will take care of you. A talking car. But ill tell you what impresses me. A talking train. This ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is, what its carrying, while using less fuel. Delivering whatever the world needs, when it needs it. After all, whats the point of talking if you dont have something important to say . Welcome back. Two days until massive forced spending cuts take effect. Theres still a lot of finger pointing happening in washington, d. C. , yesterday. Republican and Democratic Leaders at the highest levels talking about how the cuts were going to be ruinous for some and then of course blaming the other side. It seems to me the president is running around the country crying wolf saying that the sky is falling. Republicans say theyre kicking account down the road. I dont think theyric kicking the can down the road, theyre nunling the potato across the table with their nose. Its almost like the administration was given a homework assignment 18 months ago and showed up last week saying gee were not ready for this. There are too many republicans in congress right now who refuse to compromise even an inch when it comes to closing tax loopholes and special interest tax breaks. Congressman aaron schock from illinois, appreciate your time. Good morning, soledad. Two days to go, are you going to get this resolved, 48 hours . I sure hope so. Debris with the president we do not want to see a sequestration take effect. I would respectfully submit that the house has tried to be responsible. Whats been lost on my constituents back home the house of representatives acted last sum we are an alternative to the sequestration. Its great to talk about how we dont want this to happen, its another thing to put forward a specific plan that would prevent it from happening and soledad you know that vote last summer was a bipartisan vote, voted with republicans and democrats out of the house of representatives, went over to the senate and unfortunately harry reid not only didnt vote on the house version but the senate hasnt put forward its own proposal. I would encourage the president to work with harry reid and Senate Democrats to put forward their own alternative and hopefully go to conference and negotiate something between the house and the senate because both sides agree that its better to use a scalpel than a hatchet. Youre describing something theres just no way is going to be done in 48 hours so as much as youre optimistic im noptimistic. Thats charming. Chris frates with National Journal. I have a story the Republican Leadership wants to see if the sky falls, they will need to negotiate on sequester, if the cuts are not that bad they think they get some leverage and can roll the debate on the acrosstheboard spending cuts into a larger one about the debt ceiling this summer. Is that a prudent way for House Republicans to go forward on this, taking a wait and see . Shouldnt your leaders be showing more leadership here . Well im not sure that wait and see is the appropriate terminology. I would simply say that weve done all we can in the house of representatives. We cant negotiate with ourselves and so short of passing an alternative to the sequestration, which weve done, we cant force the senate to act and for us to be negotiating with the president which you know weve done in the past with boehner and obama going behind closed doors and trying to negotiate a deal that doesnt seem to work and so whats important is regular order how does that work . Both republicans and democrats in the house are frustrated because we havent been passing budgets required by law, havent been moving bills from committee to floor, allowing for amendments and input from both sides. Nobody wants these kind of one and twoman negotiated deals and then were all told to just kind of swallow hard and vote for the bill. We expect to be a part of the legislative making process which we were. Explain to me something. Forgive me for interrupting you but at the same time its your colleagues who have said were going to put fort legislation that would put this entirely into the lap of the president. There are going to be cuts made instead of having them across the board, now can he pick. That seems to contradict what youve just said about being part of a process and being part of a negotiation of cuts. So do you support that . Whats being proposed out of the house or would you not support it in. The bill we passed six months ago was specific in what cuts we would have made, and as i said, that bill did not go anywhere in the senate and so the latest proposal is to say okay, if you dont like the cuts we specified six months ago, then we will give you, mr. President , the scalpel so we dont have to disproportionately make cuts for example in tsa within the department of transportation on tsa workers. Isnt this kind of thing your job, to some degree when you say okay mr. President heres the scalpel, your job along with your colleagues is the scalpeling, right, the whole point is that all of you all are supposed to come together and figure out how you come to some agreement so it sounds to me like in fact youre then giving it up and saying okay let the white house do it, which would be constitutionally i believe against what your actual job is. Actually two things. Number one, i agree with you, were trying to do our job as best we can but as i mentioned earlier we cant negotiate with ourselves, cant force the senate to do its job and the house has put forward in earnest its own proposal with specific cuts this last summer. We have now said okay mr. President , soledad were trying to do everything we can to prevent the sequester short of just not making cuts. My constituents in illinois said are you kidding me, borrowing 40 cents out of every 1 you spend in washington and you cant cut 3 of the federal budget . Who is to think were going to solve our deficit problem in this country if we cant cut 3 . Nobody believes theres going to be this great calamity if the sequestration takes effect unless theres not allowed some discretion within the department within the administration and soledad i would say i dont think its us abdicating responsibility to the president. The president s job is to administer the revenue lines the Congress Gives it. Were saying make the 3 cut, were willing to give you discretion as the chief executive to make those cuts ads palatable as possible. Heres what i hear from both sides, blame, blame, blame, blame, blame, blah, blah from everybody, really, 48 hours to go. Avon schock nice to see you. Thank you for your time this morning. The worlds most popular beers v they been watered down, a new lawsuit focusing on anheuserbusch, the budweiser, thats ahead. Welcome back to starting point. Im Christine Romans minding your business. Shaping up to be a slow start for wall street. Stock futures pointing to a flat open, wall street nervous about the governments forced spending cuts two days away. Later today ben bernanke will be back on capitol hill talking about the economy. The list is out, Consumer Reports top car picks for 2013, American Automakers didnt make the cut. In the mid sized sedan the honda accord won out, best budget is the Hyundai Elantra at 18,000 and the best luxury car the audi a6. Consumer reports tested on reliability, fuel economy and safety. Instagram has hit 100 million active users and its only 2 years old. Facebook bought instagram less than a year ago for 3 billion. A 5 million class action suit accuses anheuserbusch of overstating its alcohol profit to boost profits. They said their beers are fully compatible, budweiser, bud light, bud light lime. You werent surprised bud light might be watered down . Is the lime good . Definitely tastes watered down but its not guinness, what can you say . I believe we should do some reporting on this. Bring that beer right here this morning. Still ahead this morning on starting point a year after he claimed selfdefense in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman still out on bail and is awaiting trial. What happens next in this case . His defense attorney mark o mara will join us next. A bartender fired because she called 911 on a drunk customer. She says this is not fair. Well talk about that straight ahead. Mine was earned in djibouti, africa, 2004. The battle of bataan, 1942. [ all ] fort benning, georgia, in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa Auto Insurance is often handed down from generation to generation because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaas commitment to serve the military, vetans, and their families is without equal. Begin your legacy. Get an autoinsurance quote. Usaa. We know what it means to serve. Welcome back. Youre watching starting point. Lets begin with john berman and a look at the days top stories. Secretary of state john kerry headed to rome today. Earlier he wrapped up a meeting with francois hollande, taking up issues on how to help syria, helping them with not weapons but Strategic Military assistance. The u. S. Coast guard called off its search for four missing boaters off the coast of california. They think this 911 call might have been a hoax. Coast guard, coast guard we are ban donning ship, this is the charm blow we are ban donning ship. After searching 48 hours cruise found no debris and no physical signs of any distress. The fbi is targeting an Anarchist Group in portland, organize organization, after a series of recent attacks. The attacks with assailants using rocks and projectiles to target banks and atm machines, Police Suspect they are to blame for tens of thousands of dollars in damage. They clearly have a message and they have an accident. There certainly is a boldness that goes with that type of dramatic vandalism. Authorities believe a group of portland anarchists are responsible for an attack on the federal courthouse in seattle. You see the signs everywhere telling to you report drunk drivers. One bartender did just that and as a result she got fired. I came into work, he was already there, pretty much hammered. He ordered a beer, i gave it to him and i started trying to slow it down. So when the drunk customer insisted on leaving and getting behind the wheel she called the police, and according to her two days later her boss called her and said she was fired for being bad for business. Her company is standing behind if customers have to fear a bartender calling the cops on them its bad for business. Isnt it illegal to serve somebody who is already inebriated. The splpolice say shed on t hook for serving him. Shes between a rock and a hard place. She seems smart so right there, hire her. Lets talk about vigils across the country that were held marking the oneyear anniversary of the shooting death of 17yearold Trayvon Martin. We talked about this yesterday and in new york city last night trayvons parents were there, joined by hundreds of supporters for the million hoodie march, oscar Award Winning actor jamie foxx was among those who spoke last night. Dont think about the color of the child, think about that child going to school, think about that child hanging out with his father, with his mom, skiing, skateboarding, doing all these fun things that a 17yearold child does and then think about that child on his way home to see his father and all of a sudden that child has his life taken from him. George zimmerman is the man accused of killing Trayvon Martin on february 26th of last year. Now hes awaiting trial for seconddegree murder, the trial is set to begin june 10th. Zimmermans attorney mark omara is with us. Appreciate your time. Good morning. Good morning to you. How is George Zimmerman doing . Hes been out on bail for a while now. How has his life been . Well, very stressed. Hes been living in hiding for the past year and cant go out in public unless hes either in disguise or with body armor. So when you compare it to the loss the Martin Family is going through it seems to pale in comparison. Georges life is drastically changed as well because of the event. It showed pictures a moments ago of a vigil and a number of vigils focusing on Trayvon Martin. I spoke to trayvons mom and dad yesterday and heres what his mom told me. Were doing this for trayvon but this also we need to also do this so that we can help other kids because we have seen since this happened last february to trayvon that other kids, other teenagers have been shot and killed through senseless gun violence and we just feel like we need to do something about it as parents. Thats sbrabrina fulton talkg about trying to get the stand your ground laws overturned. Outside of the case youre in the middle of, do you see that as something that would be productive . The stand your ground law that florida passed five or six years ago did two things, allowed for an immunity hearing if youre the one who is arguing for selfdefense. I think thats a great part of the law. It allows a judge to look at a case and say if you did act in selfdefense you shouldnt even be prosecuted and certainly not go before a jury. The second part what have they did, more controversial they said under florida law even if you have the ability to retreat you dont have to. People have concerns with the idea you dont have to back away first. That part of the law may be revisited but the Immunity Part of the law i think is good. Walk me through whats up next for the case. April 29th youll ask the court to dismiss the charges under floridas stand your ground law. Do you think the case applies, are you going to argue that or contradictory evidence to that as well. This is not a stand your ground case and what i mean by that, it is a defense immunity case, it is certainly a selfdefense case. George did not have the opportunity to retreat so calling it a stand your ground slaw really not accurate but as far as the process, we do have an immunity hearing set in april. We are considering whether or not to use that opportunity or not. Well have that decision made soon and either way, if he is not granted immunity at the hearing, then well have a trial in june and the same issue of selfdefense will be presented to the jury. How has the Public Opinion gone in this . Youve given a bunch of emails to cnn showing an early range of how people feel and this is a case where i think peoples feelings about it is really relevant. What are you finding . People hate your client . Are they supporting your client . I think its gone very well and the first couple of weeks there was an onslaught of information opposed or against George Zimmerman that he was a racist murderer, that he had no injuries that trayvon was the 12yearold in the hollister tshirt and that was a groundswell against George Zimmerman. Whats happened in the past year, people have finally decided to wait or theyve looked at the other information that has come out to see there are not only two sides to the story but it really looks at though the evidence supports george did not do anything wrong and that he was after the initial coming together confronted and injured by tray van. Its horrible to say when youre talking about a young 17 years old that he may have caused his own death. The injuries george had was nothing to support that he was fighting for his side. The other side would completely contradict the way you frame that. Except the evidence doesnt support anything that george is the aggressor in the fight. Trayvon in h no injuries on him but for the fatal gunshot and george had significant injuries to his face and to his back. I know the prosecutors position but they have to have the forensic evidence to support it. Thank you for talking with us mark omara. Thanks, soledad. Coming up next well talk about yahoo this kerfuffle ending the policy of working from home. Well talk about the outcry from the folks about yahoo thats ahead. Were back in a moment. This is my family. This is joe. Hi joe hi there earn a ton of extra points with the double your hhonors promotion and feel the hamptonality. You know how painful heartburn can be. For fast, long lasting relief, use doctor recommended gaviscon®. Only gaviscon® forms a protective barrier that helps block stomach acid from splashing up relieving the pain quickly. Try fast, long lasting gaviscon®. [ whirring ] [ creaking ] [ male announcer ] trophies and awards lift you up. But they can also hold you back. Unless you ask, whats next . [ zapping ] [ clang ] this is the next level of performance. The next level of innovation. The next rx. The f sport. This is the pursuit of perfection. The f sport. Exciting and would always come max and pto my rescue. Bookstore but as time passed, i started to notice max just wasnt himself. And i knew hed feel better if he lost a little weight. So i switched to purina cat chow healthy weight formula. I just fed the recommended amount. And they both loved the taste. After a few months maxs special powers returned. And i got my hero back. Purina cat chow healthy weight. Welcome back, everybody. Melissa meyer is shaking things up at yahoo brought an uproar not only at the company but across the country. She is forbidding workers from working at home. It created a National Discussion whether or not telecommuting is a good idea. Yahoo responds with this, this isnt a broad industry view on working from home. This is about what is right for yahoo right now. What do we think . Makes sense. Would this even be a discussion that wed be having if it wasnt a woman ceo and if it was a guy who said no more work from home, would it have created as much of aa firestorm, i dont think so. If youre yahoo youre going to do whats good for your company, theyre lagging. Theyre not the Top Tech Company anymore and there was talk about putting these guys back on the job so that they can begin to innovate again. Its difficult to innovate without collaboration. The theory being you innovate in the hallways, around the water cooler. Which is how it worked at google. Bumping into people spurred the short conversations that would show up as bigger ideas. The environment is really set up out there and its amazing to see it happen. I used to think if congress would tear down the cubicles and collaborate like they do but good for her. Shes proving shes serious. But the dilemma comes in, right, is what you started off by saying a sense that as a female, a young female ceo, she should be doing things that i guess are perceived to be beneficial to working moms in some ways which would be telecommuting. Do you think thats a Fair Assessment in some way shes damaging that in. I dont think she is damaging that. She came from google which designs their workplace to be very family friendly. They have breast pump rooms, they have chefs who make lunch there. Theres a sense that they want to keep people on comampus to innova innovate. I dont think she puts anybody back saying i want to bring the spirit here. Seems there is this Movement Towards allowing more flexibility in the workplace and seems shes bucking some sort of trend that is out there with companies being somewhat more flexible. I think youre right the fact shes a woman it making it a bigger story, but hey, shes a ceo, if this is what she thinks will help yahoo which needs to be brought around, thats why they picked her to be the kceo, go with god, melissa. We support you. At least i support you. Too often women in high powered positions every movement they made is read in the prism of are you doing well for the women, are you part of the sisterhood which i guess is a fair question but maybe not how to always judge her on everything and im not sure its bad for the sisterhood. I can work from home tomorrow . Since im not in charge, yes, you should feel free to do what you like. Up next, this man who is friends with Justin Bieber preaching the word of jesus. Judah smith, book is called jesus is, bank. The outreach is ahead. [ laughing ] [ barking ] come on, boy [ barks ] oh, heavenly day here we go. 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Checking in on some of the top stories, in a few hours president obama and congressional leader also come together for the dedication of a statue to honor civil rights pioneer rosa parks, the first africanamerican woman to have a full length statue in the capitol statuary hall. New jersey is the third state to allow internet gambling, exclusive in new jersey at first, then expand it to other places that are willing to partner with new jersey. We have some scary video to show you, a pregnant presenter on a Childrens Television show in croatia, she passes out on live television. Look at that. Thats terrifying. She was introducing a segment on the importance of oxygen. The good news is she was not seriously injured and believe it or not, she went back to work. Wow, glad to hear shes okay. This morning, we have a new book about jesus to talk about and its getting a big celebrity endorsement from the singer Justin Bieber, justin shared a message with his 7 million plus follower eer instagram, so prf my pastor. The book comes out on the 26th. Judah is the best speaker of our generation, read this book. You wont regret it. Nice to have you with us. An awesome endorsement to come. Youve been his pastor for the past couple of years. I dont know if i agree with that endorsement but it was very nice. Basically youre asking people to fill in the blank, so many books about the church would be a pastor saying jesus is in fact this, ill as the pastor fill in the blank for you. Yeah, probably first of all jesus i think is the most formidable person in Human History and whatever you are in the religious landscape hes someone to consider and being a pastor people probably assume ive got a slanted view and maybe i do but i think it starts with a dialogue and hearty conversation who jesus is and listening to people and i think we can learn from each other. This is me filling in a blank in the couple hundred pages. The idea is how would you fill in the blank. Is the idea to reach out to more younger people. Youre in your early 30s. Justin is a young man. You look at the statistics on young people and religion its almost a third say theyre not affiliated with any religious group, compared to 10 for folks who are significantly older. You see a big gap if youre a pastor could be problematic. We have our work cut out for us as pastors and spiritual leaders and the book is for all ages and i had justin in mind when i was writing it. What young people are looking for today is not just truth and information forced down their throats so to speak but they want an honest conversation and a dialogue and thats what were hoping to do here with this promg. Milennials views on christianity, 73 said christianity has good values, 60 showses kri es christianity love for others, 64 antigay, 62 judgmental. Many evangelicals are trying to make people think differently about what comes to their mind, antigay, judgmental, is this part of your strategy . Its keeping the main thing the main thing that. What is the main thing . There say god and he loves humanity. There are problems in humanity thats unquestionable, undebatable. What is going to be the antidote, what is the answer . Obviously im persuaded that its god, and his name is jesus and he has an extraordinary grace and forgiveness and love available to all of humanity. I think people are looking for an honest conversation, serve looking for some sort of hope or some sort of answer to challenges that this life aufrds. Im read a bit from page, my eyes are so bad, i think its 26. Its your generation. Your generation, not my generation. I want people in my church to welcome everybody, the gay, the straight, the rich, the poor, the good, the bad and the ugly. I want my church to be a place where people can come from all backgrounds and issues and shortcomings and addictions and bondages and we dont have to get them all fixed up before they sit on the front row. I thought this is so different than what i think a lot of people here im catholic when they go to churches that is not the message that it is given. I think the message of jesus is that you belong long before you believe or behave. Thats often how it works, if people feel they have a place at the table, a voice to be heard they develop Real Relationships and god is a real person who wants a real relationship with people and the life of jesus is very compelling in that he hung out with disreputable people for sure. I love that, he hung out at all, some people might have issue with. As a monsignor, would you say listen i want every Young Catholic to be thinking about the role of jesus in their life . Absolutely, when we talk about membership in the church we dont talk about having a membership card and signing on a dotted line first. We talk about a person relationship with jesus who has an impact on our lives and thats Pope Benedicts message, its all about listening to jesus and what jesus asks and as you just said that then it affects behavior, it affects what we do. If jesus has a place in my life and i have a personal relationship with him, then its going to be revealed and be demonstrated in how i live day to day and the way i choose to make decisions and what i do with my life. I think it soubds like an awesome book. I cant wait to read it. Get your hands off my book. Monsignor is trying to steal my book. Nice to have you, judah smith, as a pastor, i like your book a lot. Youre welcome. End point is up next in a moment. Its gentle and clinically proven to help restore and maintain regularity. Look for citrucel today. Its gentle and clinically proven to help restore and maintain regularity. Oh, hi thehey ill. Are you in town for another meeting . Yup, i brought my ateam. Siness trips add to family time. This is my family. This is joe. Hi joe hi there earn a ton of extra points with the double your hhonors promotion and feel the hamptonality. Dad you excited for youyeah. St day . Dad youll be fine, ok . Girl ok. Dad you look so pretty. Im overprotective